Apple Inc. called one of its veteranindustrial designers for a walk down iPhone memory lane during the first day of its closely watched patent trial against Samsung Electronics Co.

Christopher Stringer, Apple's first witness in the case, said he has worked on every hardware product the company has shipped since he joined in 1995 and is listed as an inventor on patents involved in the case. He is part of a team of around 15 designers that work in very close cooperation and report to Apple's design guru, Jonathan Ive.

There were flat iPhones, boxy iPhones and fatter iPads presented as Mr. Stringer, fashionably dressed in a white suit and sporting long hair, discussed how he and Apple's notoriously secret squad of hardware designers arrived at their designs.

Apple lawyer Harold McElhinny, of the firm Morrison & Foerster LLP, shuffled back and forth, handing Mr. Stringer devices as he asked him to describe an array of iPhone sketches and prototypes dating back to at least 2006. One model was flatter and more brick-shaped than the current iPhone. The other resembled the iPhone, but said 'iPod' on the back, which Mr. Stringer said may have been to conceal its identity or because Apple hadn't come up with the iPhone name.

Mr. Stringer said the team wanted to build the most 'beautiful' product and didn't consider functional matters like making a phone better at making phone calls. They weren't aiming to make a device that was cheaper or easier to build either, he said.

Apple's lawyers are trying to prove Apple's iPhone and iPad innovations were unprecedented and risky as they try to prove Samsung ripped off their designs.

Mr. Stringer detailed some of the challenges of building the iPhone, including positioning the glass cover and building the steel band around the phone without interfering with the antenna.

When asked if his team was nervous about how the iPhone would be received when it came out in 2007, he said even Apple co-founder Steve Jobs had doubts because the product was so unprecedented.

Mr. Stringer's testimony also provided a peak at the operations of Apple's secretive industrial-design team, which is responsible for the sleek, recognizable look of Apple devices.

He said the team often works around a table in a kitchen, translating ideas to sketches to computer designs to 3D models.

When asked to describe what industrial designers do, Mr. Stringer said they 'imagine objects that don't exist and guide the process that brings them to life.'

When asked how the design team settled on the final iPhone design, he said 'It was the most beautiful of our designs...When we realized what we got, we knew.'

The day wrapped up after brief introductory testimony by Philip Schiller, an Apple senior vice president, who is expected to take the witness stand again when the trial reconvenes Friday.

Jessica E. Vascellaro

• industrial [in´dʌstriəl]   a.工业的，产业的   (初中英语单词)
• patent [´peitənt, ´pæ-]   a.专利的 n.专利品   (初中英语单词)
• witness [´witnis]   n.见证人 vt.目击   (初中英语单词)
• cooperation [kəu,ɔpə´reiʃən]   n.合作；协作   (初中英语单词)
• lawyer [´lɔ:jə]   n.律师；法学家   (初中英语单词)
• flatter [´flætə]   vt.阿谀，奉承；胜过   (初中英语单词)
• conceal [kən´si:l]   vt.藏；隐瞒   (初中英语单词)
• device [di´vais]   n.装置；器具；策略   (初中英语单词)
• nervous [´nə:vəs]   a.神经的；神经过敏的   (初中英语单词)
• responsible [ri´spɔnsəbəl]   a.尽责的；责任重大的   (初中英语单词)
• computer [kəm´pju:tə]   n.计算机；电子计算器   (初中英语单词)
• veteran [´vetərən]   n.老兵 a.老练的   (高中英语单词)
• inventor [in´ventə]   n.发明者   (高中英语单词)
• testimony [´testiməni]   n.证明；证据；表明   (高中英语单词)
• senior [´si:niə]   a.年长的 n.前辈   (高中英语单词)
• hardware [´hɑ:dweə]   n.五金器皿   (英语四级单词)
• trying [´traiiŋ]   a.难堪的；费劲的   (英语四级单词)
• identity [ai´dentiti]   n.身份；同一性；一致   (英语六级单词)
• unprecedented [ʌn´presidentid]   a.空前的   (英语六级单词)